Frank Gehry, The Architect Of The Unconventional, The Accidental, And The Inspiring, Has Died At 96

In April 2005, The Simpsons featured an episode where Marge, embarrassed by her hometown’s reputation for being uneducated and uncultured, invites a world-famous architect to design a new concert hall for the city. The architect, Frank Gehry (playing himself), crumples Marge’s letter in frustration and throws it to the ground. Looking down, the creased paper inspires him, and the episode cuts to a model of a concert hall that copies the shape of the crumpled letter. By building Gehry’s design, the people of Springfield hoped to signal that a new era of culture had arrived.

Architect Frank Gehry poses with miniatures of his designs in Los Angeles in 1989. Bonnie Schiffman/Getty Images

As it often did, The Simpsons referenced a real-life phenomenon: the “Bilbao effect.” In 1991, the city of Bilbao sought to enhance its economic and cultural standing by establishing a major arts centre. Gehry was commissioned to design the Bilbao Guggenheim, proposing a 57-metre-high building of titanium and glass along the Nervión River. Using software developed for aerospace industries, Gehry designed a striking building that contrasted sharply with the city’s traditional streetscapes. Finished in 1997, the response was overwhelming. Bilbao was transformed into an international tourist destination, revitalising the city and boosting its cultural and economic prospects.

Gehry, who has died at 96, leaves a powerful legacy visible in major cities, the media, galleries and popular culture.

An architect’s life

Guggenheim Museum, Avenida Abandoibarra, Bilbao, Spain. Elizabeth Hanchett/Unsplash

Gehry was born Frank Owen Goldberg in Toronto in 1929 and emigrated to Los Angeles in the late 1940s, where he changed his surname to Gehry. He studied architecture and urban planning and established a successful commercial practice in 1962. It wasn’t until the late 1970s, when he began altering his own house in Santa Monica, that he developed his signature approach.

He peeled back its cladding, exposed its frame, and added plywood panels, corrugated metal walls and chain-link fencing, creating a house that appeared perpetually unfinished. Its expression offended neighbours but led to inclusion in the 1988 Museum of Modern Art’s Deconstructivist Architecture exhibition, catapulting Gehry to international fame.

Unlike others in the exhibition, Gehry was not driven by a political or philosophical stance, but by how people would react to architecture. This vision became clear after the Bilbao Guggenheim.

Throughout the 2000s, Gehry completed major works including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, the Marqués de Riscal Vineyard Hotel in Spain, and the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. His only Australian building was the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building in Sydney, inspired by a crumpled brown paper bag.

Gehry and his son, Alejandro, in the yard in front of his self-designed home, Santa Monica, California, January 1980. Susan Wood/Getty Images

Recognition and reflection

The Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California, United States of America. Tim Cheung/Unsplash

Gehry received the Pritzker Prize in 1989, with the jury praising his “controversial, but always arresting body of work.” While often a career capstone, most of Gehry’s major works followed the award.

He regretted appearing on The Simpsons, feeling it devalued his process. His architecture was not random; it was guided by an artist’s eye and a sculptor’s hand. His Santa Monica house remains unfinished, forever a work in progress. Its uncompromising yet joyful presence has endured for almost 50 years.

Words by Michael J. Ostwald, Professor of Architectural Analytics, UNSW Sydney. Special thanks for The Conversation. Support and donate today.